I can’t give you a lot of advice, but I can tell you I loved going to UT and never felt like I was just a number (the school isn’t that much larger than when I attended). I tell people it’s like living in a big city with a lot of neighborhoods. I got to know the people in Civil/Architectural Engineering really well. The professors were great and I had a wonderful group of friends. And there were so many opportunities, for academic pursuits and fun! Even in my huge American History class, which turned out to be my favorite one of my whole college career, I could go in and see the professor whenever I wanted to. He tried to get me to switch majors from engineering to history, ha.
I can say that a lot of kids who go to UT end up living in Austin. 